Chuckles' whole disposition in present day compared to how he is in his flashback reeks of Fridge Horror. Perhaps most ambiguous is his final conversation concerning Lotso's position ("She only replaced you..."). Was he trying to make Lotso consider Big Baby or was he in the middle of telling Lotso he was Someone Else's Problem (which likely further triggered Lotso into threatening him)? Was he most broken from letting down Big Baby or Lotso?

Americans Hate Tingle: Toy Story 3 was an utter flop in some countries in Eastern Europe, including Latvia, Romania and Russia. Many explanations have been offered, the less imaginative being that not many people there had seen the other two films because of economic troubles right after the fall of Communism in the 1990s, resulting in 3's Continuity Porn lacking appeal.

Angst Aversion: This movie is notorious for being very depressing to watch. It has everything from a brutal dictatorship to child abuse, to the inevitable prospect of a slow and sad death. The list goes on.

Complete Monster: Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear is the ruler of Sunnyside Daycare, and oppresses the other toys through brute force and violence. Originally the favorite toy of a young girl named Daisy, Lotso was mistakenly lost and replaced, leading him to believe that all toys were worthless and unloved. Taking over Sunnyside, Lotso subjects the toys in the Caterpillar Room to horrid mistreatment from the younger children. When Andy's toys request that they be relocated to the Butterfly Room, Lotso resets Buzz Lightyear and has him beat down his friends, showing a cold satisfaction while doing so. When Woody frees the toys and they attempt to escape, Lotso has Chatter Telephone beaten in order to get him to explain Woody's escape plan before ordering the toys disposed of in the dumpster. When his minions turn on him and he is taken to the dump, along with Andy's toys, he abandons them to burn to death in the incinerator, ignoring that they had previously saved his life. While he has a tragic backstory, Woody himself calls him out on how weak it is, stating that Lotso had abandoned her, not the other way around. Sociopathic and misanthropic, this quote by Buttercup puts it best:

Continuity Lockout: True, this isn't The Matrix Revolutions but viewers new to the series may wonder why the green aliens are constantly talking about "the Claw". An attempt to bridge this gap is made when they first arrive at the daycare. The aliens point at a construction vehicle toy with a claw and say "The Claw!" to establish that connection with new viewers.

Crosses the Line Twice: The scene where the daycare children rough up your toys is a little dark, but then Jessie's head gets dunked in paint. The line is crossed again when Rexloses his tail. Then again when Buzz is used as a mallet.

One working theory is that the 3rd movie is a metaphor for the afterlife. See this essay for more info.

Lotso never made it out of the dump.

Genius Bonus: Potato Head using a Tortilla and a Cucumber while his body was trapped. Unless you're a vintage toy collector, you might not know that was how Mr. Potato Heads were actually sold: They were originally only a collection of parts meant to be used with real vegetables, and were later sold with plastic bodies to discourage food wastage.

Harsher in Hindsight: When Woody lists the friends they lost while Andy grew up, he mentions Wheezy. In Toy Story 2, Woody saved Wheezy from being put in a yard sale.

Heartwarming in Hindsight: Woody's line to Buzz "This isn't goodbye" can be seen as this to the entire franchise, as with the animated shorts and a fourth movie, this movie is not our goodbye to these characters.

The Walking Dead would premiere later in the year Toy Story 3 was released, and its' third season coincidentally features a few beats similar to this film: the Big Bad is a ruthless tyrant with a southern accent ruling a potential safe haven under the guise of a benevolent, fatherly Team Dad persona. A blonde finds out she's been romantically involved with the enemy. And the main cast moves into a prison where they're besieged by the Big Bad. The Dragon pulls a Heel–Face Turn out of love for one of the main cast (though out of familial love than romantic love), and ultimately the Big Bad's community turns on him when they see how evil and insane he really is. David Morrissey even sounds a lot like Ned Beatty with the heavy southern drawl he uses as The Governor!

Jerkass Woobie: Lotso might have been a villainous sociopath, but he was abandoned unintentionally by his original owner, who replaced him with another toy. And keep in mind, she only replaced him. He does lose his woobiness during his Moral Event Horizon, however.

Like You Would Really Do It: Averted. The incinerator scene was so intense that a lot of fans watching for the first time were genuinely afraid Pixar actually was going to have the nerve to destroy their iconic, beloved characters. Even some Genre Savvy viewers who noticed that the Little Green Men had been conveniently removed for the moment have admitted that they wound up forgetting this when the scene actually came up.

Moral Event Horizon: In Toy Story 3, Lotso had already established himself as a dog-kicking machine as he tortures and corrupts the toys during the movie, but irrevocably crosses the horizon when he pretends to try to turn off the Conveyor Belt of Doom leading to the incinerator, then leaves the other toys to their deaths with the remark "where's your kid now, sheriff?", complete with a mocking salute and evil smile. This after he pretended to be redeemed and after Woody and Buzz had just risked their lives to save him. So much for Rousseau being right this time, as is usually the case for Pixar.

Nausea Fuel: During the daycare scene, the extreme closeup of a toddler shoving Buzz's helmet into her mouth.

Tough Act to Follow: This is why most fans feel there should be no more sequels after Toy Story 3. This also indirectly affected the reception of Cars 2 and Brave. Even Pixar is aware of this; John Lasseter said they had no plans for a fourth movie because the third felt like a perfect note to end on, but they felt an idea they were kicking around was too good to pass up, and thus, Toy Story 4 was green-lit. It wasn't until Inside Out, released half a decade later, that Pixar made a movie considered good enough to escape Toy Story 3's shadow.

Much of the humor is over young heads, and a lot of kids get frightened and often even leaving during the Monkey Scene (A few theorized the 11-year Sequel Gap helped Pixar aim for a Darker and Edgier route). Even worse is that it once played on the Disney Junior block and had a tie-in with Pull-Ups training pants.

The notorious incinerator scene. The suspense and fear was enough to unnerve even the grown-up viewers.

Big Baby. Like Lotso and Chuckles, he was accidentially left behind by their original owner, Daisy. Lotso didn't let Big Baby see Daisy for the last time and lied, saying they were all replaced instead of just Lotso. They wound up in Sunnyside where Lotso manipulated and abused the toddler minded toy into doing his dirty work. Near the end when Woody tells the truth that Lotso had lied all the time and he (Woody) gives Big Baby's old locker with Daisy's name on it, Lotso grabs the locker from the tearful Baby, smashes it and start beating Big Baby. Lotso's treatment of Big Baby was, all in all, child abuse. Poor kid.

Most of the main cast fall under this; they've lost many of their friends, they're not played with any more and they're doomed to life in the attic, which isn't so bad but can never compare to Andy's childhood. Then they get thrown out by accident.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy